Collecting Library Artifacts and Memorabilia                                      

First Day Covers

For almost every library postage stamp there is one or more first day covers.  First day covers as their name indicates are covers (envelopes) that are cancelled with a date cancel that has the same date as the first day of issue of the stamp. The United States Postal Service doesn't produce official first day covers.  Instead, the USPS applies the first day cancel to envelopes that are submitted by individual collectors or cachet makers.  A cachet is an illustration that is applied to the envelope by various means and is usually related to the design or subject of the postage stamp.  The postal service will apply the first day cancel up to thirty days after the issue of the stamp.  Because any number of first day covers with different cachets can be produced for a particular stamp issue in the United States, this is an obvious collecting area for postal librariana collectors.  In other countries, the norm is that one official first day cover is issued by the country's postal authority.  I have a large collection of U.S. and foreign first day covers.  Although some serious philatelists frown on covers that haven't actually gone through the mail, there is a significant group of individuals who are primarily first day cover collectors.  Many belong to the American First Day Cover Society.

This cover for the America's Libraries Stamp of 1982 was the first and only cachet issued by the American Library Association. This particular cover was signed by Betty Stone, the President of ALA at the time, and Robert Wedgeworth, the Executive Director of ALA.  I have been searching for a version of this cover that includes both the America's Libraries Stamp and the 1982 Library of Congress stamp (see below).  It was also signed by Stone and Wedgeworth.

A hand painted first day cover with the 1982 Library of Congress stamp. Hand painted covers are usually issued in smaller numbers and are more expensive.

First day cover with the New York Public Library lion stamp issued in 2000.

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Last updated: 2-17-04

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